I'm not a conspiracy theorist. That makes it all the more difficult for me to understand why our leaders continue to practice crisis management. We know what the result of doing nothing is and we have seen what is possible if we would just reflect the will of the people in action. For over forty years there has been a public outcry that continues to plead for responsible energy policies, pollution elimination strategy and more humane policies regarding our place on the world stage. Frequently there are protests, boycotts and direct actions to change the course of our government officials, their corporate keepers and the constabulary who are used as tools of their oppression. The problem is that the changes are never enough, and always too late to effect necessary change. When you grow up seeing the farce behind our involvement in Southeast Asia, the fallacious claims about how environmental ethics demand our collective return to caves, that the peace movement is being fomented by criminals or communists and the complete inaction demonstrated by our leaders on pollution and energy issues, it becomes hard to understand what the motivation is to cling to policies and procedures that have yet to solve a single one of these pressing problems. Amelioration of problems after they have occurred is not only less effective and more costly than solving them before they reach crisis proportions, but it shows that you don't care enough, and are not smart enough to reason out what might happen if nothing is done.
As long as our "leaders" refrain from taking action, the forces of greed, expediency and abuse will continue to flex their proverbial muscle. Until we demand that their cycle of power and control be broken, we will have to continue to live with the degraded environment, insane energy policy and "terror" from those who hate us for our "way of life", not to mention the real and present terror of not knowing what part of our infrastructure will catastrophically break down next. Our flagging educational system is failing our students, the air where many of us live is not fit to breathe, the water that many of us drink now contains dilute anti-depressants heart medication and "penis pills". The land in many areas has been so thoroughly sterilized that they are biologically dead. The health care debate has been framed so as to not even mention health, or care. If you believed the BS about how legalizing pot would fund more terror, what do you think our continued addiction to oil does? Just because people who have advocated change often looked like hippies and sounded like intellectuals is no reason to believe that they were not right. We should have all seen, by now, the images of Earth from space that led to the coining of the term Spaceship Earth. There is no "away", we need to find a path to peace. True security depends on making our way forward to a future in which our children are not burdened by childhood cancer, developmental disabilities, and reduced quality of life. The same things that angered me as a child have persisted and intensified. Our mindless destruction of the planet has grown exponentially. As emissions from vehicles have been reduced, we drive more cars more miles. As we take actions to reduce water pollution from point sources, we eliminate more native forest cover, drain wetlands and pave over rich farmland, spreading ever more toxins and persistent chemicals on the land.
How can we respect the system that allows these abuses to continue? How can we facilitate the change necessary to encourage sustainability? How can we ask others to bear the costs of our affluence? By seriously studying and understanding the nature of our shortsightedness, perhaps we can bring public opinion to bear on leaders to help create a more reasonable course forward. There are cars of the future in existence today. Cars that will not rust away, that can be fueled with renewable energy, and that will leave oil behind, but our government will not require them to be produced by publicly held, corpulent corporations feeding at the trough of current policy. Similarly, proven technology exists to make every new home a net energy production facility. Where are the regulations requiring that it be done? Why are there no taxes levied on the giant agricultural water pumpers who drain our aquifers or those who spew carcinogenic compounds on the earth? When something is the "right" thing to do, we should be able to agree that it should be done. As things stand, we introduce ambiguity into every topic, call up Fox "news", have them put their cameras on a gut-wrenching effect whose image cannot, in and of itself, tell us anything about the nature or scope of the problem, then they will find two "experts" on any subject imaginable to fight over the hows and whys of whatever the issue may be. In the end we are either stymied into inaction by the realization that we are stuck between a rock and a hard place, or righteously indignant about how wrong-headed the opposition is.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, but it is getting ever harder to fathom why we have sunk to this level of depravity. Is there anyone at the helm? If there is, they have to know that things are not working. Oh, wait, they must be working. The rich continue to get richer and every loyal Calvinist knows that the poor deserve everything they get as well as what they don't, and for the new age mind over matter folks, they certainly do not deserve the things they can't even dream of. Theories cannot, by definition, be proven. This conspiracy of thought seems very well proven to me and countless others who have been demanding real and meaningful change for generations.
Showing posts with label Water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Water. Show all posts
Monday, June 7, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Earthday at 40
I remember my parents not allowing me to attend the first Earthday. They said it was part of the conspiracy to placate the masses and distract the public from what was really going on. The river in our backyard was a colloidal suspension, (like mixing milk and orange juice, but it was green) After forty years, dredging toxic compounds that accumulated all those years ago has begun. The fish are still not safe to eat, nor the waters to swim. I have seen a vast improvement in the look, but not the smell of our river. As a child I wondered how large must the Great Lakes be, to be able to handle the incredible volume of toxic waste that flowed past our door.
In 1987, I got a chance to ride bicycle around all five Great Lakes and all I can say is that they are not very big! Even now the water that we drink contains prescription drugs. We didn't even know about the possibility of these contaminants being able to "make it" into the environment back then. I was able to get the message of sustainability , though we called it living better for less back then, to about ten million people. Six million on a single day through CBC radio during a morning commute. Cheap and simple ways to "Go Green" like substituting baking soda for chlorine tainted cleansers, combining trips, carpooling or bicycling rather than firing up the old fossil fuel burner unnecessarily. Back then, a family could save about seven thousand dollars per year by going from two cars down to one.
The air when I was a child was terrible, and is no better today, in spite of effectively cutting new lead emissions, sulfur dioxide and dry cleaning compounds many other contaminants have increased. We did score a noteworthy victory when the local electric generating station wanted to raise their smoke stack to "protect local air quality". Public interest groups said in court that the air farther away should not be negatively impacted to keep our air cleaner, so the stack raising project was put on hold. The courts interpreted the clean air act rules to mean that pollution should be reduced, not just diluted and to this day, the stack remains unfinished.
Burning of fossil fuels has increased exponentially at times in the last forty years. Each time we increase mileage standards, we increase the fleet size to offset any ecological gains. Infrastructure improvements have created millions more miles upon which people can now drive. Current government incentives go to larger and larger interests who more and more people drive farther to patronize.
Soils are still under attack. Mega-farm agribusiness is not concerned at all about naturally stable and ecologically diverse micro-climates. Drive through any agricultural land and you will see the stark reality that nearly every farmer has sterilized the soils and tilled wet and /or erosion prone areas to the point of having only dirt where a complex relationship of organisms once existed.
I truly hope that in forty more years my children won't say "Things are as bad as they ever were." At least when the first Earthday happened, there were still old timers who had not given up the old ways of farming that respected the earth, understood stewardship and at least rotated crops and left fallow land that "needed a rest." Farmers are under such pressure today that they can't possibly do what is best for their land. It would cost billions to reestablish hedgerows, intersperse forest cover to protect the fields from the ravages of wind and extremes of hot and cold as well as wet and dry.
We have had forty years to make a difference, but have mostly chosen to look the other way. If you are a child reading this, hold your parents to a higher standard. If nothing changes, protest like we did against the Vietnam War. If you are adults, hold your elected officials to the task of cleaning up the mess, stabilizing the cities and allowing local areas to support themselves. No one is served when the cities collapse. Before the next Wal-mart is subsidized, we need to make sure the urban core has decent food, water, shelter and air. If that means mass transit, so be it. If that means high speed rail, lets step up. We are living in a country whose people were told that the Erie Canal was just a pipe dream, The Mississippi could not be tamed, that they would never be able to lay railroad track over the Rockies, that a Trans-Atlantic cable was impossible, and other things that could have limited us, or what we could do. If anyone can reclaim a mutually beneficial relationship with Earth, it only makes sense that it should be us.
We have been lucky to have people looking out for us through the last forty years, but the lack of effective action to reign in the destruction of our planet has been staggering. Our efforts need to be more than redoubled. Effective action is much more than fair-trade coffee and reuse-able shopping bags. It lies in a complex matrix of relationships with one another, with community and with resources. As we learned as children about the water cycle, we need to look at the cycles of capital, of energy, of nutrients and of all the gifts that the natural world provides each discreet location. The give back needs to be reintegrated into our daily lives. That is what enriches community and raises our quality of life while reducing costs.
In 1987, I got a chance to ride bicycle around all five Great Lakes and all I can say is that they are not very big! Even now the water that we drink contains prescription drugs. We didn't even know about the possibility of these contaminants being able to "make it" into the environment back then. I was able to get the message of sustainability , though we called it living better for less back then, to about ten million people. Six million on a single day through CBC radio during a morning commute. Cheap and simple ways to "Go Green" like substituting baking soda for chlorine tainted cleansers, combining trips, carpooling or bicycling rather than firing up the old fossil fuel burner unnecessarily. Back then, a family could save about seven thousand dollars per year by going from two cars down to one.
The air when I was a child was terrible, and is no better today, in spite of effectively cutting new lead emissions, sulfur dioxide and dry cleaning compounds many other contaminants have increased. We did score a noteworthy victory when the local electric generating station wanted to raise their smoke stack to "protect local air quality". Public interest groups said in court that the air farther away should not be negatively impacted to keep our air cleaner, so the stack raising project was put on hold. The courts interpreted the clean air act rules to mean that pollution should be reduced, not just diluted and to this day, the stack remains unfinished.
Burning of fossil fuels has increased exponentially at times in the last forty years. Each time we increase mileage standards, we increase the fleet size to offset any ecological gains. Infrastructure improvements have created millions more miles upon which people can now drive. Current government incentives go to larger and larger interests who more and more people drive farther to patronize.
Soils are still under attack. Mega-farm agribusiness is not concerned at all about naturally stable and ecologically diverse micro-climates. Drive through any agricultural land and you will see the stark reality that nearly every farmer has sterilized the soils and tilled wet and /or erosion prone areas to the point of having only dirt where a complex relationship of organisms once existed.
I truly hope that in forty more years my children won't say "Things are as bad as they ever were." At least when the first Earthday happened, there were still old timers who had not given up the old ways of farming that respected the earth, understood stewardship and at least rotated crops and left fallow land that "needed a rest." Farmers are under such pressure today that they can't possibly do what is best for their land. It would cost billions to reestablish hedgerows, intersperse forest cover to protect the fields from the ravages of wind and extremes of hot and cold as well as wet and dry.
We have had forty years to make a difference, but have mostly chosen to look the other way. If you are a child reading this, hold your parents to a higher standard. If nothing changes, protest like we did against the Vietnam War. If you are adults, hold your elected officials to the task of cleaning up the mess, stabilizing the cities and allowing local areas to support themselves. No one is served when the cities collapse. Before the next Wal-mart is subsidized, we need to make sure the urban core has decent food, water, shelter and air. If that means mass transit, so be it. If that means high speed rail, lets step up. We are living in a country whose people were told that the Erie Canal was just a pipe dream, The Mississippi could not be tamed, that they would never be able to lay railroad track over the Rockies, that a Trans-Atlantic cable was impossible, and other things that could have limited us, or what we could do. If anyone can reclaim a mutually beneficial relationship with Earth, it only makes sense that it should be us.
We have been lucky to have people looking out for us through the last forty years, but the lack of effective action to reign in the destruction of our planet has been staggering. Our efforts need to be more than redoubled. Effective action is much more than fair-trade coffee and reuse-able shopping bags. It lies in a complex matrix of relationships with one another, with community and with resources. As we learned as children about the water cycle, we need to look at the cycles of capital, of energy, of nutrients and of all the gifts that the natural world provides each discreet location. The give back needs to be reintegrated into our daily lives. That is what enriches community and raises our quality of life while reducing costs.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit
Initially I wanted to write Earth week entries about each of these forces separately. Each deserves an entry to explore more deeply it's significance to our culture this Spring, but for lack of time and the busy nature of my schedule, I am going to have to combine these elements into a single post. Much like in our own lives, we must balance and integrate forces like these daily. It is time that we reevaluate what we are willing to call reality and reassess the value and meanings behind our relationship with these forces. In spite of the brief introduction to each of these natural forces that I will attempt here, remember that a lifetime of study and awareness is required to begin to understand fully the part these forces play in our lives.
Happily, the Earth is getting lots of attention this week, but we often allow our connection with Mother Earth to slide out of focus, or drop off our radar completely. As you may have noticed, my own focus, in life and blogs is on the Earth and her gifts, sustainable development and patterns that connect us with the planet, her resources and our relationship with Starship Earth, our fellow passengers on our flight around the Sun, and the island mentality that must come to light if we are to survive here without poisoning ourselves or tearing at the web of life that sustains us until it can no longer hold the weight of our species.
With gardening season upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere, many millions will be turning the soil, many for the first time. This simple act can grow within us new respect for creatures that share their space with us, as well as the life that goes on all around us on this miraculous planet. In a single cup of healthy soil more organisms can live than the number of people we typically meet in a lifetime. Protecting the earth and her soils from the harsh effects of sun and rain are paramount in the gardener's mind. Mulch your gardens to conserve moisture, retain fertility and protect soil life. If anyone has ever laid in the sun too long, or been stuck out in the rain with no shelter, they know that nature can be harsh. Single celled critters and soil microbes are even less able to cope with sunburn or direct hits from raindrops than we are. Protecting the Earth takes on a whole new meaning when you realize that soils are alive. Once sterilized, it is just dirt.
Air too must be integrated and available in healthy soils. When planting, be careful not to destroy soil tilth or texture. Turning soils that are still wet, treading on planting beds, or killing off beneficial organisms can lead to difficult conditions for many plants. Even roots like to "breathe" and compaction rates as a number one cause of declining fertility in soils. Again, mulch can act as a shock absorber underfoot, protecting delicate structures that plants form to sustain their lives as well as our own. This invisible element, Air, swirls and flows around us all the time. The atmosphere is 1/6 as viscous as water, but has incredible power nonetheless. Just as we understand watersheds, the basins that collect the waters that flow together into local waterways, the air too comes from far away locations bringing substances and qualities with it. Here in the Western Great Lakes Region, we normally get most of our air from Canada in Winter, the Pacific Northwest in Spring and Fall, and the Southwest in Summer. Of course the daily changes that occur in the atmosphere are much more varied than that, but learning to feel the changes and understand them gives one greater insight to weather, pollution issues and intimacy with the vital fluid that we breathe to sustain life. Just this spring, I had a bought with pneumonia that was a direct result of a stagnant bolus of air that stayed over Northeast Wisconsin for ten days. During this time, the air quality continued to be degraded by transportation, energy and industrial contaminants. Lungs are not designed to handle this sort of onslaught. Air is to be revered and Creator intended for us to be blessed with pure and unadulterated air to breathe.
Fire as we know has the unique ability to warm us. The burning of calories in our food are fire on a microscopic level. Metabolism, even of tiny organisms creates heat and this is a by-product of life itself. The most available source of energy that we know is the Sun. The solar furnace that bombards the earth is responsible for most of the swirling winds on our planet, virtually all of the life as we know it on the earth's surface, and for the vast reserves of fossilized carbon which we are burning at rates never imagined in generations past. the fire that burns within each of us is just a chip off the old block. The sun creates virtually every calorie we take in. Even the lowly mushroom, growing on dead roots, or trunks of trees makes it's living from plants that have had their day in the sun. We often use phrases like "burning desire" or "flames of passion", "hot blooded" or "fired up" we all know this force, but often we overlook the ubiquitous nature of fire in our lives. We must learn to honor and respect this powerful energy within us and surrounding us to begin to treat it with the respect it deserves.
Water too has an undeniable place in our existence. Our bodies are made up of roughly the same percentage of water as the rest of the planet's creatures. Without it, we cannot survive. Without clean water in abundant supply, all forms of life must either adapt or perish. This lowly molecule has amazing characteristics that we still do not fully understand. It is an awesome solvent, requires large amounts of energy to change phase, solid to liquid, liquid to gas. it helps moderate temperature because of it's ability to absorb and give off energy slowly. It is made up of only two elements, Hydrogen and Oxygen, and it is extremely tightly bonded, even though each chemical in isolation is highly reactive.
My own fascination with water began as a child. Surface tension, adhesion, cohesion, solubility, the addition of surfactants to this fluid and fluid dynamics absorbed my attentions as far back as I can remember. For many, the commodification of this vital fluid creates vast wealth and destroys the environment. Rather than respecting the power of this element, man has sought to harness the waters that flow, utilize their energies for man's benefit and to not consider what riches lie in the fluid itself, or the watercourses that surround us. Mankind's ability to survive and thrive depend on clean water being available to all people in relatively unlimited quantity. As you look around the planet, there are large areas whose future is being called into question because of this dwindling resource. The first Earthday was brought about because of the gross neglect and poisoning of vast bodies of water. The public got enraged and called for better protection of this essential resource. Now, forty years later, the threats that water faces are much more occult (hidden), mush more pernicious and far more complex than sludge belching out from pipes, draining industrial waste into the local creeks and rivers. We have done a pretty good job of going after folks who desecrated water in that way. What we face now is the withdrawal of trillions of gallons of water from below ground, infiltration of harmful materials into the water table, and deposition of dangerous chemicals that are falling from the sky. A life out of balance harms all creatures great and small, the wisdom of this lies in the waters that make all life possible.
Spirit too is being commodified. It is becoming harder and harder to find communities that are not burdened by mega-churches. Fortunately there are many good folks involved in the reawakening of spirit amongst the people, but the rise of fundamentalists of all flavors is a disturbing trend in World Spirituality. As we grow mentally and emotionally, we need to grow spiritually as well. When you study these relationships, or those facts, it is well to realize that they tie into spiritual practice as well. The Spirit which guides us is not the exclusive domain of any religion. Spirit is like the magician's assistant who climbs into the box, only to be "pierced" with skewers. Each faith tradition thrusts it's way into the box. As we watch, we can be sure that this or that dagger has inflicted the death blow. As the container is run through with more and more skewers, we cannot help but know that the space inside, as we know it can no longer contain a living breathing person. One of the pieces of steel must have surely found it's mark. To our horror, the assistant keeps right on smiling. Then, as if by magic, the daggers are removed and she springs unharmed from the case. The religious leaders of today, many of them, are claiming to have a fast track to salvation and that being a member in good standing of their church will assure us eternal life and favor with "the lord".
Spirit cannot be bought, sold, bartered, renewed, cleansed or in any way destroyed or harmed by human activities. It may be the spark of life, but life is just a mirror that reflects spirit. Coming to know spirit the way that I have begun to, it can be undeniably seen in all living creatures, in each element, in every facet of every action taken by every creature. We speak of spirit of the age, spirit of giving, holiday spirit and the like. What is most profound for me is that as we pass through life we know when our spirit has been touched, but explaining that to anyone else is virtually impossible. Each of us must make peace with the spiritual realm on our own terms. Those who claim to "know the way" at best can only tell you what seems to have worked for them. I heard an analogy once that holds true for many parts of our lives. "We determined what we put into our bodies by the people giving it to us. Once a guy came to the door in a large cowboy hat, silver belt buckle and boots. The first thing he did when he came in the house was to close all the curtains, lock the doors and all the while he was there he kept getting up and pulling back the blinds to look out with obvious paranoia. He put a large bag of pills on the coffee table and said that they were for us. We decided that if they were what he was, we wanted no part of them."
All of our lives must be spent looking critically out into the world for relevant data that can help us along our own path. The idea that someone else can find our personal truth in matters of spirituality would be laughable if so many of us had not been misled into thinking that religions have things figured out. Spirit is alive within us and as such need not be contaminated by any other being or their version of truth, or their understanding of what they have been led to believe. Creator gave us each gifts that we cannot fathom. Many of us go through life never even understanding our full potential. Spirit is ours to explore, it does not belong to anyone else. It is not for others to even understand or dictate. Our souls are ours to "save", and in truth cannot be "sold", "spent" or "squandered". Our spiritual life, as well as the spirits of everything that surrounds us are far too important to trust to others. When God/ess is alive within us, great things happen and no one can mediate our experience with the eternal except our own self.
This Earthweek, challenge yourself to study your own relationship with these five elements. Let me know what you learn. I'm always interested in finding other seekers along the path to enlightenment.
Namaste', Tony C. Saladino
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Getting Ready for Spring Planting
As the end of winter approaches, and the frost begins to come out of the ground, many of us look forward to the coming warmth of Spring, the yielding soils and the smells of thawing compost piles.
ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. is looking forward to tree planting excursions and events that center around sustainability and permaculture. Spring is also a good time to reflect on plans for expansion and how far we have come in our pursuit of Eden. At last count we had over two dozen perennial plants that produce food each year with very little weeding, tilling, or trimming. The most work we do is the harvest.
We see our organization as a pollinator of sorts. Each of us and the groups we belong to are wonderfully complete in isolation, but once cross pollination occurs, new awarenesses and new forms begin to emerge. Through continued planting of seeds, we can reestablish life where none had been, create surplus where there had been lack and create life upon the harshest soils. Our home has been a microcosm of what we do on a larger scale across vast acreages. When we arrived here, there was one rotting Apple Tree and several very old Lilacs. The soil was prone to drying out and cracking. It had become so compacted as to only support invasive species, and very few of them. The grass always turned brown in peak summer and the water pooled around the house and made it's way into the basement.
We began a process of loving the Earth back to life, establishing a compost, mulching and introducing clay busters that would look beautiful and provide food for birds, bugs and butterflies. We planted several trees right away and added a few more each year until now there is protection from much of the harshest sun of summer and less of the biting winds o' winter for our bit of land to deal with. The longer we are here, watching what the climate dishes out, the more we see that can be done to make our part of the planet more hospitable.
Pemaculture has allowed us to find food at virtually every season, right near our back door. It has allowed us to see more wildlife, create a healthy, organic, and sustainable oasis in the heart of the city, and has led us to have such abundant harvests as to share our surplus with others. Our ecotours allow us a forum to spread the word about environmental recovery, sustainable approaches to housing, energy, and food so that more and more people can live better while using less. We invite you to share in one of our events or take a tour of our facilities. To arrange a tour, please either write or call ahead, so that we can be ready to make your stay great.
You can contact us through e-mail at: tnsaladino42@hotmail.com, write using snail mail at: 1445 Porlier street Green Bay, WI 54301-3334 or call using our number (920) 884-2224.
ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. is looking forward to tree planting excursions and events that center around sustainability and permaculture. Spring is also a good time to reflect on plans for expansion and how far we have come in our pursuit of Eden. At last count we had over two dozen perennial plants that produce food each year with very little weeding, tilling, or trimming. The most work we do is the harvest.
We see our organization as a pollinator of sorts. Each of us and the groups we belong to are wonderfully complete in isolation, but once cross pollination occurs, new awarenesses and new forms begin to emerge. Through continued planting of seeds, we can reestablish life where none had been, create surplus where there had been lack and create life upon the harshest soils. Our home has been a microcosm of what we do on a larger scale across vast acreages. When we arrived here, there was one rotting Apple Tree and several very old Lilacs. The soil was prone to drying out and cracking. It had become so compacted as to only support invasive species, and very few of them. The grass always turned brown in peak summer and the water pooled around the house and made it's way into the basement.
We began a process of loving the Earth back to life, establishing a compost, mulching and introducing clay busters that would look beautiful and provide food for birds, bugs and butterflies. We planted several trees right away and added a few more each year until now there is protection from much of the harshest sun of summer and less of the biting winds o' winter for our bit of land to deal with. The longer we are here, watching what the climate dishes out, the more we see that can be done to make our part of the planet more hospitable.
Pemaculture has allowed us to find food at virtually every season, right near our back door. It has allowed us to see more wildlife, create a healthy, organic, and sustainable oasis in the heart of the city, and has led us to have such abundant harvests as to share our surplus with others. Our ecotours allow us a forum to spread the word about environmental recovery, sustainable approaches to housing, energy, and food so that more and more people can live better while using less. We invite you to share in one of our events or take a tour of our facilities. To arrange a tour, please either write or call ahead, so that we can be ready to make your stay great.
You can contact us through e-mail at: tnsaladino42@hotmail.com, write using snail mail at: 1445 Porlier street Green Bay, WI 54301-3334 or call using our number (920) 884-2224.
Monday, November 30, 2009
What Are The Chances?
I was the lucky recipient this year of approximately 1.5 million Elderberry seeds. Of course, I planted them in the only place large enough that wouldn't be molested. If only one in one thousand makes it into a tree, that's fifteen hundred trees! What are the chances that any one acreage should be gifted the chance to grow more trees? At least for the hundred or so acres that I passed through, there is a chance, just a chance of a great profusion of life. Birds flock to Elderberry. Most times when they get ready to launch, leaving a deposit is part of their flight check. What is the chance that I would bring up bird droppings in the first paragraph? This time, 100%!
Part of the idea behind Otherfish, is the utterly malleable cultural significance of newsprint. We ain't claimin to be no high fallootin' folks or high society-types around here. The words ain't near as important as the use we get out'ta the newsprint! Entrails from fish, caught fresh that day. Upon the cutting board, or in the gut-bucket would be newsprint. To keep down flies, we just wrapped the guts up into a make-shift envelope and buried the thing whole. Being "salt of the earth" practical sort informs most of what I write here. Bird droppings and all!
Two Summers ago, my son and I went for two weeks downriver in a canoe. We went down the Wisconsin River from Castle Rock Lake, past The Dells, Portage,WI Prairie, and on to the Mississippi. We got to Wyalusing State Park while many roads were still out. They had had nearly a foot of rain overnight the week before. Everyone always said that gully washers like that always move quickly, but not the night I watched thunderheads off to the Southwest just below the Dells. 30,000 foot tall columns of light and water remained over the same place all through the night. I had never seen anything like it! Our whole trip was blessed, even the bad parts were enlightening or transformational.
We travelled at about the same rate as Joliet and Marquette did. Sliding into that ancient rhythm both calmed and transfigured me. Eyes always to the horizon, the river's fall line, the riffles and upwellings within the water, submerged obstacles, gentle inlets for lunch, or trees to escape the sun in the desert-like solar oven that can be the Lower Wisconsin Riverway. We routinely found sandy beaches too hot to walk on without shoes.
As can happen, the whole sequence of events during that fortnight led us to call it the "What Are The Chances Tour"Like a mantra that kept coming back of it's own accord, The entire event was characterized by unlikely, yet inexplicable scenarios that I believe have never been equaled in intensity or as a pure reflection of the diversity that makes up the varied culture that unfolds along The Wisconsin, an ancient transportation link.
During our trip, we met tourists, people involved in the tourist trade, fishermen, locals, retirees, thieves, kind-hearted folk, a few rude ones, defunct resort owners, from whom the river had moved away, and folks who had vast views over constantly shifting sandbars as their dining room entertainment. People living along such a river have a significantly different river in front of them at sunrise than they do at sunset. The depth and fury, or lack of it can change more in a few hours than some rivers change during the course of full weeks, or even months.
The interplay of the people and the changing waters makes for qualitatively different people. We even met a few people like us, travelling downstream, in search of something that we could not quite share in or attend to. Each time we would pull out of a place, we would ask, what are the chances? To run into a group of drunken underage kids who would keep us up all night, (one of whom, "nearly cut his hand off!") at the same place, we wondered what the chances were that the guy wouldn't charge us to stay because of the rowdies. We always fell to the conclusion that, at least for this trip, it was 100%. What were the chances that we would find restaurants who were willing to refrigerate our leftovers until morning, find folks who invited us to shower, or a pool and showers just two or three blocks from where we had set up our camp. The ride back to the river with ice from a woman who gave us spiritually inspired art. The entire trip being rain free except when we ended and didn't have to move the tent again. What were the chances? 100%.
There can only be this elusive 100% chance when you are at the limit of your resources, abilities, endurance, physical awareness, humility and ability to seek the adventure without limitations of expectation and belief. As we navigated caves, decorated by native people, on cliffs far above the river that brought the first "White Men" through this "uncharted" land, we looked upon deftly wrought lines that traced out entire trip down from The Dells. Plainly incized on the same walls were the Portage that could be taken all the way to the Lake we call ours, here in Green Bay, Lake Michigan.
The Elderberries that we plant today will change the world forever. Without an attempt to do it, nothing could result from our inaction. If we all become "Johnny Appleseeds", the change we can make is monumental. That is what is needed to change our carbon footprint. As not what you can do for yourself alone, but the Mother Earth who suckles you. I come back to the Elderberry for the fact that it is for healing. It has sixteen times the amount of anti-oxidants found in Ehinacea. By planting it, we can heal ourselves as well as the earth. Most placed that have been denuded will have to be one back to wildness through a process that involves starting with pioneer species like Elderberry, Blackberry, Service (June) berry, Sumac, raspberries, etc.
Bless you on your path to bliss, may you find a peaceful relationship with the planet and all her creatures. Namaste'. Interested in learning about your own path to sustainability, contact: ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. at 1445 Porlier street, Green Bay, WI 54301, or tnsaladino42@hotmail.com
Part of the idea behind Otherfish, is the utterly malleable cultural significance of newsprint. We ain't claimin to be no high fallootin' folks or high society-types around here. The words ain't near as important as the use we get out'ta the newsprint! Entrails from fish, caught fresh that day. Upon the cutting board, or in the gut-bucket would be newsprint. To keep down flies, we just wrapped the guts up into a make-shift envelope and buried the thing whole. Being "salt of the earth" practical sort informs most of what I write here. Bird droppings and all!
Two Summers ago, my son and I went for two weeks downriver in a canoe. We went down the Wisconsin River from Castle Rock Lake, past The Dells, Portage,WI Prairie, and on to the Mississippi. We got to Wyalusing State Park while many roads were still out. They had had nearly a foot of rain overnight the week before. Everyone always said that gully washers like that always move quickly, but not the night I watched thunderheads off to the Southwest just below the Dells. 30,000 foot tall columns of light and water remained over the same place all through the night. I had never seen anything like it! Our whole trip was blessed, even the bad parts were enlightening or transformational.
We travelled at about the same rate as Joliet and Marquette did. Sliding into that ancient rhythm both calmed and transfigured me. Eyes always to the horizon, the river's fall line, the riffles and upwellings within the water, submerged obstacles, gentle inlets for lunch, or trees to escape the sun in the desert-like solar oven that can be the Lower Wisconsin Riverway. We routinely found sandy beaches too hot to walk on without shoes.
As can happen, the whole sequence of events during that fortnight led us to call it the "What Are The Chances Tour"Like a mantra that kept coming back of it's own accord, The entire event was characterized by unlikely, yet inexplicable scenarios that I believe have never been equaled in intensity or as a pure reflection of the diversity that makes up the varied culture that unfolds along The Wisconsin, an ancient transportation link.
During our trip, we met tourists, people involved in the tourist trade, fishermen, locals, retirees, thieves, kind-hearted folk, a few rude ones, defunct resort owners, from whom the river had moved away, and folks who had vast views over constantly shifting sandbars as their dining room entertainment. People living along such a river have a significantly different river in front of them at sunrise than they do at sunset. The depth and fury, or lack of it can change more in a few hours than some rivers change during the course of full weeks, or even months.
The interplay of the people and the changing waters makes for qualitatively different people. We even met a few people like us, travelling downstream, in search of something that we could not quite share in or attend to. Each time we would pull out of a place, we would ask, what are the chances? To run into a group of drunken underage kids who would keep us up all night, (one of whom, "nearly cut his hand off!") at the same place, we wondered what the chances were that the guy wouldn't charge us to stay because of the rowdies. We always fell to the conclusion that, at least for this trip, it was 100%. What were the chances that we would find restaurants who were willing to refrigerate our leftovers until morning, find folks who invited us to shower, or a pool and showers just two or three blocks from where we had set up our camp. The ride back to the river with ice from a woman who gave us spiritually inspired art. The entire trip being rain free except when we ended and didn't have to move the tent again. What were the chances? 100%.
There can only be this elusive 100% chance when you are at the limit of your resources, abilities, endurance, physical awareness, humility and ability to seek the adventure without limitations of expectation and belief. As we navigated caves, decorated by native people, on cliffs far above the river that brought the first "White Men" through this "uncharted" land, we looked upon deftly wrought lines that traced out entire trip down from The Dells. Plainly incized on the same walls were the Portage that could be taken all the way to the Lake we call ours, here in Green Bay, Lake Michigan.
The Elderberries that we plant today will change the world forever. Without an attempt to do it, nothing could result from our inaction. If we all become "Johnny Appleseeds", the change we can make is monumental. That is what is needed to change our carbon footprint. As not what you can do for yourself alone, but the Mother Earth who suckles you. I come back to the Elderberry for the fact that it is for healing. It has sixteen times the amount of anti-oxidants found in Ehinacea. By planting it, we can heal ourselves as well as the earth. Most placed that have been denuded will have to be one back to wildness through a process that involves starting with pioneer species like Elderberry, Blackberry, Service (June) berry, Sumac, raspberries, etc.
Bless you on your path to bliss, may you find a peaceful relationship with the planet and all her creatures. Namaste'. Interested in learning about your own path to sustainability, contact: ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. at 1445 Porlier street, Green Bay, WI 54301, or tnsaladino42@hotmail.com
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Health Care vs. Disease Care
I have been trying to decode the mystifying Health Care System since I was a child. At age seven I was diagnosed, behind closed doors, as having "Green Bay Throat". My Mother, being ignorant, asked what could be done about it. The doctor said, "Move away from here." Back then there were still a number of practical souls working in the field of medicine. He would tell us in private that the he and his colleagues knew that the chemical soup we were breathing day in and day out had the effect of depleting my immune system and that there was no way to counter the damage that pollutants were doing to my body. We asked if he would document this Green Bay Throat, but he refused. Citing the fact that he would never work again if he stood up to speak the truth in a town run by the paper mills.
I know now that virtually everyone looked the other way regarding the use of air and the water as dumping grounds for all kinds of hazardous material. The practice still takes place, although we have reigned in some of the most obvious and easily reduced waste streams. Now we face the insidious onslaught of chemicals that are harder than ever to clean up or avoid. Doctors still tell us precious little about the effects of prescription medication, lawn "care" chemicals and agricultural waste in our drinking water, the hazardous compounds created by chlorination of water, or the over four hundred toxic chemicals routinely found in the air we breathe in most major cities. We have not stopped looking the other way. This in turn leads to hazards to our health, well being and ability to lead lives that are characterized by optimum health. We spend more on health "care", as a percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) than any nation, but our outcomes for this spending are way down the list. Last I heard, we rank 47th in most major indicators for health. Oddly enough, with all the talk about Health Care Reform, why are we not asking why people in 46 countries are healthier while we continue to spend wildly and get so little in return?
The most recent flap, characterized by the right-leaning tax and spend Republicans as "Why are you taking away our mammograms? This is the beginning of Health Care rationing!" Is pathetic. I know that we live in a time of serious mathematical illiteracy, but I will try to keep this simple. Average cost of a mammogram in the US is 1,000 to 6,000 dollars. Why this should be, having a six-fold variation in price for the same procedure sounds criminal, is about as clear as the x-rays themselves. If mammograms are performed on 1,900 women between forty and fifty years of age, annually for four years, it would save one life. That would be a cost of between 64 million and 384 million to save one life. Of these tests, 60% show false positives, scaring the bejeusus out of the majority of the women, adding undue stress to their lives and leading to biopsies that incur even higher costs, risk infection and a higher percentage of false negatives because they are performed much more rarely. The math on that is a bit complicated, so I will spare you that. Keep in mind the key part, to save one life!
1,140 women would be told that there was something to be concerned about on the x-ray. When actually only one would be at risk from the disease! Yet why would the doctors not mention any of the preventative steps we should all be taking to win the fight against Cancer? The over four hundred man-made chemicals that I mentioned earlier have all been implicated in genetic damage and/or Cancer. We know more about prevention than the medical establishment is telling us. To truly reform our inefficient system, we need to start with the easiest things first. Cleaning up our act with regard to poisons in the environment would be logical. Of course, it may cause some people to do things they don't want to do. It may require people to get out of certain polluting industries or devise new ways of doing things that have made them fortunes. In the future many things will change. If we are to live healthier lives, some sacrifice will be required. Business as usual has a proven track record and it is uglier the deeper you look.
When I was a child, I lost both of my grandmothers to cancer. Back then, the doctors claimed that they would decode the disease and win the battle with it scientifically. Now it has become chic to "walk for cancer", wear pink, ride for a cure, etc. Yet we still allow BPH (Brominated Phenolic Compounds) to line our canned goods cans, leach out of baby bottles, and nipples, and come in contact with our food and water. We know that they are implicated in causing Cancer! Chlorinated Organic Compounds, created when we chlorinate water, mimic Dioxin (an ingredient in Agent Orange) and PCB (Polychlorinated Biphenols). I continue to lose friends and family to Cancer. They are dying at younger and younger ages. Living proof that we are not only at a loss for winning the fight against Cancer, but pointing out the pressing need to stem the flow of toxic compounds into our bodies. At what hazard do we refuse to see the writing on the wall? Cancer is not cute. I don't think the billions spent thus far on cancer research has yielded satisfactory results. The simplest way to beat cancer is still being overlooked and my sense is that as long as doctors are in charge, they will continue to turn away from the facts regarding prevention.
I know now that virtually everyone looked the other way regarding the use of air and the water as dumping grounds for all kinds of hazardous material. The practice still takes place, although we have reigned in some of the most obvious and easily reduced waste streams. Now we face the insidious onslaught of chemicals that are harder than ever to clean up or avoid. Doctors still tell us precious little about the effects of prescription medication, lawn "care" chemicals and agricultural waste in our drinking water, the hazardous compounds created by chlorination of water, or the over four hundred toxic chemicals routinely found in the air we breathe in most major cities. We have not stopped looking the other way. This in turn leads to hazards to our health, well being and ability to lead lives that are characterized by optimum health. We spend more on health "care", as a percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) than any nation, but our outcomes for this spending are way down the list. Last I heard, we rank 47th in most major indicators for health. Oddly enough, with all the talk about Health Care Reform, why are we not asking why people in 46 countries are healthier while we continue to spend wildly and get so little in return?
The most recent flap, characterized by the right-leaning tax and spend Republicans as "Why are you taking away our mammograms? This is the beginning of Health Care rationing!" Is pathetic. I know that we live in a time of serious mathematical illiteracy, but I will try to keep this simple. Average cost of a mammogram in the US is 1,000 to 6,000 dollars. Why this should be, having a six-fold variation in price for the same procedure sounds criminal, is about as clear as the x-rays themselves. If mammograms are performed on 1,900 women between forty and fifty years of age, annually for four years, it would save one life. That would be a cost of between 64 million and 384 million to save one life. Of these tests, 60% show false positives, scaring the bejeusus out of the majority of the women, adding undue stress to their lives and leading to biopsies that incur even higher costs, risk infection and a higher percentage of false negatives because they are performed much more rarely. The math on that is a bit complicated, so I will spare you that. Keep in mind the key part, to save one life!
1,140 women would be told that there was something to be concerned about on the x-ray. When actually only one would be at risk from the disease! Yet why would the doctors not mention any of the preventative steps we should all be taking to win the fight against Cancer? The over four hundred man-made chemicals that I mentioned earlier have all been implicated in genetic damage and/or Cancer. We know more about prevention than the medical establishment is telling us. To truly reform our inefficient system, we need to start with the easiest things first. Cleaning up our act with regard to poisons in the environment would be logical. Of course, it may cause some people to do things they don't want to do. It may require people to get out of certain polluting industries or devise new ways of doing things that have made them fortunes. In the future many things will change. If we are to live healthier lives, some sacrifice will be required. Business as usual has a proven track record and it is uglier the deeper you look.
When I was a child, I lost both of my grandmothers to cancer. Back then, the doctors claimed that they would decode the disease and win the battle with it scientifically. Now it has become chic to "walk for cancer", wear pink, ride for a cure, etc. Yet we still allow BPH (Brominated Phenolic Compounds) to line our canned goods cans, leach out of baby bottles, and nipples, and come in contact with our food and water. We know that they are implicated in causing Cancer! Chlorinated Organic Compounds, created when we chlorinate water, mimic Dioxin (an ingredient in Agent Orange) and PCB (Polychlorinated Biphenols). I continue to lose friends and family to Cancer. They are dying at younger and younger ages. Living proof that we are not only at a loss for winning the fight against Cancer, but pointing out the pressing need to stem the flow of toxic compounds into our bodies. At what hazard do we refuse to see the writing on the wall? Cancer is not cute. I don't think the billions spent thus far on cancer research has yielded satisfactory results. The simplest way to beat cancer is still being overlooked and my sense is that as long as doctors are in charge, they will continue to turn away from the facts regarding prevention.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Seven Generations of Service
When we grow, we pass through developmental stages. Things that we see, feel and understand change over time and when I was trained to be an educator, there was a tendency to focus on the young, since educating them was the way most teachers would make their living. My approach to education required a deeper understanding of growth stages that we pass through after the "formal" education process is complete. I have never felt that education should cease because we fulfill the requirements of any school. Luckily, I have found a profession that requires me to continue to learn, adapt and develop both skills and knowledge. Of course, what is harder to teach is attitude. Many feel that this is the hardest part of being a teacher, inspiring a curious attitude. Life long learning seems to me to be redundant, but for many, the idea of stimulating one's brain past high school, or college seems foreign. I often repeat what an older mentor said when I was a young man and a bit more impressionable, "I've forgotten more than most young people have learned." however, as my training has taught me, I do know where to look up much of that information when I need it. Sometimes knowing where to look is as important as what you find there.
We have dug ourselves quite a hole over the past seven generations. Many of our resources, (which I like to think of as gifts) are either waning, or have completely run out. Our species has run out of territory to "move on" into. Our cavalier cowboy approach to economics, land use and "development" have led to a broken economy, broken lives, broken homes and broken cities. The numbers of people falling through the cracks has increased exponentially as has our inability to resolve pressing issues. I feel that some of this is because we have been driven to distraction by stressors in our own lives. Many also find that if they look closely at nearly any problem, it seems to be systemic, and resolving it seems like it will take more effort than they can muster. I still have faith in education. I believe that if we can learn new ways of seeing, new ways of behaving and new ways to be of service to others, we can find our way out of several of the messes that we have made over past generations. What we need is a better framework for valuing our needs and critically investigating our wants.
I feel that we need to ask several important questions about each and every one of our choices, from housing to food and from energy to consumerism generally. Even the causes we support and our volunteerism can have lasting impacts on our planet and our collective future. How much is enough? Will this serve the next seven generations? Where have these things come from, and perhaps, more importantly, where will they end up? Remember that in nature there is no away, the planet works with such elegance that there is no waste, everything serves another purpose when it is passed it's "useful life". Every individual organism is an integral part of the whole. I am confident that if we can learn to become like our brothers and sisters in the natural world, we will fare much better in the coming years. We are taking some baby steps in the right direction, but to make a lasting positive change, we will need to embrace changes that will lead to sustaining the planet, it's essential resources, and the ability of future generations to enjoy a standard of living at least as high as that to which we have become accustomed.
We have dug ourselves quite a hole over the past seven generations. Many of our resources, (which I like to think of as gifts) are either waning, or have completely run out. Our species has run out of territory to "move on" into. Our cavalier cowboy approach to economics, land use and "development" have led to a broken economy, broken lives, broken homes and broken cities. The numbers of people falling through the cracks has increased exponentially as has our inability to resolve pressing issues. I feel that some of this is because we have been driven to distraction by stressors in our own lives. Many also find that if they look closely at nearly any problem, it seems to be systemic, and resolving it seems like it will take more effort than they can muster. I still have faith in education. I believe that if we can learn new ways of seeing, new ways of behaving and new ways to be of service to others, we can find our way out of several of the messes that we have made over past generations. What we need is a better framework for valuing our needs and critically investigating our wants.
I feel that we need to ask several important questions about each and every one of our choices, from housing to food and from energy to consumerism generally. Even the causes we support and our volunteerism can have lasting impacts on our planet and our collective future. How much is enough? Will this serve the next seven generations? Where have these things come from, and perhaps, more importantly, where will they end up? Remember that in nature there is no away, the planet works with such elegance that there is no waste, everything serves another purpose when it is passed it's "useful life". Every individual organism is an integral part of the whole. I am confident that if we can learn to become like our brothers and sisters in the natural world, we will fare much better in the coming years. We are taking some baby steps in the right direction, but to make a lasting positive change, we will need to embrace changes that will lead to sustaining the planet, it's essential resources, and the ability of future generations to enjoy a standard of living at least as high as that to which we have become accustomed.
Monday, October 12, 2009
"Shootin' the Moon!"
Just as futile as dropping one's drawers. Now we will see our paltry affect but only after spending many more millions! Fresh water could be assured for all humans on earth for less than it costs us in bottled water in The United States each year. Without investing in true humanitarian aid, we have no right to muck about in space!
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